John McCain Warns There Will Be 'Hell To Pay' If Russia Shot Down Malaysian Plane

Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) declared on Thursday there would
be "incredible repercussions" if Russian forces or pro-Russian
separatists in Ukraine shot down the Malaysian flight that
crashed earlier in the day.

In an appearance on MSNBC shortly after news of the crash broke,
McCain stressed it was too early to come to definite conclusions.
However, he pointed out Ukrainian aircraft
have previously been shot down in recent days and "mistaken
identification" of the Malaysian plane could be "part of a
pattern" that demands a powerful reaction from the United States.

"This was an airliner headed towards Russian airspace and it has
the earmarks — and I'm not concluding — but it has the earmarks
of a mistaken identification of an aircraft that they may have
believed was Ukrainian. If that's true, this is a horrible tragic
event which was certainly unanticipated by anybody no matter who
they are. And there will be incredible repercussions if this is
the case," he said. "If it is the result of either separatist or
Russian actions mistakenly believing that this is a Ukrainian
warplane, I think there's going to be hell to pay and there
should be."

McCain called the pro-Russian separatists and the Russian
government "really one and the same" and said both had the
capability to shoot down the Malaysian flight. An adviser to the
Ukraine interior minister
said separatists shot down the passenger plane with a
Russian-made Buk ground-to-air missile system. The separatists
have denied responsibility. Ukrainian forces have been clashing
with the separatists in the eastern part of the country and the
region of Crimea since pro-Kremlin Ukrainian President Viktor
Yanukovych was ousted following widespread protests against his
administration in February.

"It has the earmarks of a tragic mistake made by someone who had
the capability to shoot down an aircraft and we know at least
from the last few couple weeks that could be Russian or
separatist-Russian capability. If that's true this is really,
really something that commands our attention to bring this kind
of thing to a halt in Ukraine," McCain said.

McCain also panned President Barack Obama's handling of the
crisis in Ukraine and dismissed the latest round of sanctions
against Russia, which the White House announced
Wednesday.

"The United States has been insulting in how small and how little
help we have given. I mean they have been begging us for
defensive weaponry; we have not given it to them," McCain said.
"The sanctions so far in exchange for Crimea have been minuscule.
These latest enacted by the Obama administration I think are
helpful but if you ask the Ukrainian government that's
struggling, they said they need weapons in which to defend
themselves."

After his appearance on MSNBC, McCain's office released a
statement urging the immediate supply of antitank and
anti-air weapons to Ukraine.

"It is shameful that the administration continues to refuse
to provide our Ukrainian partners with the military capabilities
they both want and need," he said.